Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Pulled pork shoulder is such an easy recipe, and a great item to enjoy with your sample of SFQ, that I wanted to get this video up before I left for New York. As some of you know I'm headed out to help my mom for a little while and won't have an opportunity to post much from there.

The conventional method for cooking pork shoulder is low and slow, but this recipe is really low and slow – like 210 degrees F. low and 12 hours slow. The result is an incredibly soft and succulent piece of pork, perfect for pulling.

Since I don't have a smoker (at the time of this posting), and most of you don't either, I thought I would show you a little trick I would have learned in the Army had I enlisted. As you'll see, I cook the pork in a covered Dutch oven with a couple of ramekins of water into which I've added a small amount of liquid smoke.

I've never been a big liquid smoke guy, but this method seems to scent the meat with a nice subtle smokiness without getting in the way. The extra moisture also allows for a very humid cooking environment, always a good things when doing pork shoulder. Enjoy!

65 comments:

MMMmmmmmmmm....pulled pork. It looks amazing. Too bad I will never get to try the real deal since I live in Canada and there is no cross border barbecue sauce deal! It makes me sad, but I will definitely try this one with my own (far inferior I am sure) sauce. Thanks John!

Funny you should mention that. I've been playing with the same techniques lately. KC Ribs, Dry Rubbed low and really slow 6~7hrs @ 210F on a cookie sheet with a cooling rack and an aluminum tent. Falls off the bone! Yummy.

Chef John, I love your site. Thanks for all the great recipes. A question on this one: Might one be able to do this with brisket? Maybe in a 9x13 pan, tightly sealed with aluminum foil? What do you think? (mouth watering at the thought...)

Chef John, this is like that chicken wing eating thing all over again! I cant believe Ive been trying to apply a sort of watered down liquid smoke spray directly to my barbequing meat! Always left a bit of an unwanted bitter aftertaste on the meat. Ramekins!Doh!!

Dearest Chef John,I truly think you should be severely punished for not shipping this yummy treat overseas! And such punishment should come in the form of a recipe for yummy lemon bars... :-pJust thought i'd try my luck....Luv luv luv the site and think you truly rock! Too bad I can't make a donation!Kisses from Portugal!Patrícia

Another beef substitute idea: chuck roast. Pulls apart much like pork butt. Comes in all sizes... my first was a 20lb behemoth that took nearly 18 hours on the smoker. Chef John, do you have a kettle grill? I might be worthwhile to try your recipe outside using higher heat... indirect, but with temps closer to 300. Cuts the cooking time in half too.I know your le creuset is a versatile, desirous object in the kitchen, but a weber smoker wouldn't run much more. You took the classes... time to up your game!

I combined your pulled pork cooking method with the garlic studded pork recipe you did earlier. I'm happy to report that it was fantastic. The only difference was that I raised the temperature a bit and reduced the cooking time to 9 hours.

I would say 190 as a baseline to begin checking for doneness... meaning stick a fork or probe in it, give a little twist, and if there's no resistance, you are done. I accidentally took a butt to almost 210 degrees last weekend (it was the smaller of 2 on the smoker, the other was at 195), and it was, perhaps miraculously, still tender and delicious.

Yum! That looks so delicious, I've never been a big pork fan but maybe this would be good with beef! Love how the sandwich looks, and *love* that you said use a fluffy white bun. I totally agree, sometimes doing the healthier option just doesn't work! It's like using whole wheat pasta, it's gross and doesn't taste the same and it's bad for you either way so just go with the traditional white pasta =D Same goes for butter vs. margarine.

I am in Hungary and I am having a friend bring back some Liquid Smoke. Can't wait to try this. Just need to find out what Shoulder Cut is called here, they butcher differently. Whats in the dry rub.. if its not a secret?

I've just stumbled across your site while searching for a pulled pork recipe. (Must have had my head under a rock) I LOVE YOUR RECIPES!! I'll be a regular follower. Will try the pulled pork this week!Thanks!

This recipe is great! I made it this past weekend, and was so pleased with the results. Pulled pork is just one of those things that always eluded me. Never really thought to make it on my own, but I always order it at pubs and such. Anyway that rub recipe is great, and I decided to make my own Maple Bourbon BBQ sauce which turned out fantastic.

Here's how I made the sauce: Saute garlic and onions until soft. Add Ketchup, Brown Sugar, and Cider Vinegar. Cook for 20 mins at a simmer. One dash of liquid smoke. Add a decent helping of maple syrup to taste. Let stand and cool down to a warm temperature. Add two tablespoons (or more) of Bourbon of your choice (I used a local variety called Forty Creek, which is very oaky and flavourful). Turned out great. Sorry no measurements..I'm about as precise as Chef John is. :)

I used this technique yesterday with great results. My past experience with cooking meats beyond the temperature when they are done is that they get tougher, not more tenderer (is that a word?). With this technique the pork was just as tender as in your video.

Since I was feeding kids I opted for the sweet Hawaiian dinner rolls - a perfect size for sliders. I've never put cole slaw in the sandwich before but I tried it this time - nice crunchy addition!

The bonus in this recipe is pork shoulder is about the cheapest cut of meat you can buy short of scraps for making soup - it was $1.99 per pound at two different stores here in the SF bay area. And wait - there's more! The other bonus is that I have enough leftovers for dinner the next day!

Hey Chef John, I was wondering if you can do this in a slow cooker and if so do you need to do anything different. I'm planning on making this for my girlfriend's mother's birthday. You are awesome and you have inspire me to cook a lot more.

Made this following Chef Johns steps, it was amazing! Tho mine had much more liquid in the bottom when it was done, prob a good idea to check on it eveer 3-4hrs and maybe drain of the access liquid fro the bottom, tho it was still wonderful! Good work chef!

Chef John! You were doing so well but you crashed and burned at the end. If you chop the pork it is not pulled pork but chopped BBQ! Pull the pork apart by hand. Have lots of strands and pieces of meat, let the meat dictate the way it comes apart. It's the zen of barbeque! Chopping the meat makes it dry out faster and chopped BBQ is not as good as pulled. The chopping makes the pork roll off the sandwich and it makes for a tough time eating. You must have used some computer animation to have the chopped sandwich look that good. With chopped BBQ you usually can't see the bottom bun because of all the pork rolling off the pile. I'm in North Carolina and have had BBQ from all over the Carolinas. I'm always dissapointed in the chopped BBQ over pulled and I don't know why chopped stays on the menus. The owners of the BBQ joints around here must not eat their own food or they never tried a true pulled pork sandwich.Great blog, keep up the good work. You need to get to the Carolias sometime. You've been spending too much time on the left coast.

I loved pulled pork but don't cook it very often due to a few challenges:1) I'm a single guy and a 5-6 lb shoulder is way more fatty food than I can eat in a short period of time.2) I'm rarely home for a whole day, and don't feel comfortable leaving the oven on while I'm asleep or at work.

Anyway... I finally got to try this on a recent holiday. I chose to forego the SFQ (not even sure what it is to be frank) and made my own dry rub and BBQ sauce. I woke up at 7am to put this in the oven, and by evening it was so tender and so delicious.

The nice thing about pulled pork is that it freezes well and defrosts easily, even after it's cooked. So I didn't feel pressured to eat a ton of pork in the week after I made it.

Paul is correct. You showed chopped pork, not true "pulled" pork. However, unlike Paul, I prefer the chopped version which I learned to love in Memphis. Their version of this sandwich is often finished off with a blob of finely chopped, vinegar based coleslaw right on top of the meat, although some prefer mayonnaise based slaw.

Accompanied by a cold beer, all the food groups are covered. Try it some time.

ahh nuts...I have a shoulder but boneless. Will wait until I get one with a bone. You have the best recipes ever!! Made your Bechemel and my3 teenage kids were rolling their eyes asking why haven't I made before and I said because I don't want them to get fat! Our little secret!

I went ahead and did this recipe with my boneless pork in the crockpot and "oh my". I placed a piece of foil over the top so that no air could escape and then put the top on. It worked...it fell apart. Cooked on low for 6 hrs for a 1-2 lb. shoulder. Chalk one up for the inexperienced!!!

Does anyone know how many servings this will make??? I plan to try it out for a party but I want to be sure there will be enough for everyone (>__ <; );I am also wondering; if i need to double the recipe, can I make the other part in a crock pot? If so, would it be for the same amount of time? (If you dont know, I understand)Btw, I found you from Allrecipes.com and have been HOOKED on your blog ever since!!!I spent the better part of today going through youtube and creating playlists for all my favorite recipes that you have submitted :D

URGENT: Hi Chef John, I have an 8 pound shoulder that I want to do this for a part tomorrow. I just checked my oven and the minimum temperature is 260 F. What should I do?? 1. does an 8 pound shoulder require more time than your 3.5? and 2) can i do it at 260 and tweek the time or should I shift gears to a slow cooker?

Just did this last night/today. Note to others. My oven has an auto-shut off after 6 hrs, so it shut off in the middle of the night. Food poisoning much? Oh dear. Knowest thou oven before attempting. 3 boston butts. Backup plan? Dang it.

Sorry to hear! But you didn't need to throw those out! The outside would have been cooked and sterilized, and their is virtually no chance the inside would be contaminated with anything that would poison anyone. If there is a next time, just turn the heat back on and cook until tender. The price of education. :)